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Keeping Fit: 1920

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "U.S. Public Health Service." On the left we have Abe Lincoln, who "kept himself fit by working in the open air." By the time we get to the right side of the exhibit, there's a diagram with a caption about "the youth who achieves self-control." Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.

Dates back to Roman times--20 mile marches with pack was how their legions trained for legendary endurance. And I like the "can you run 100 yards in 12 seconds" one as well--they didn't know what slow and fast twitch muscle fibers were, but they saw their expression as a sign of fitness.

Acknowledging that obesity is a problem among some of America's youth, I can tell you all that the problem does not exist among the youths with whom I associate: I am a track&field official and spend a lot of time with NCAA athletes. Their time and efforts are tightly structured as they are both students and athletes. And yes, they can run 20 miles. Not much call for working in a field these days. BTW, I'm 62 and I can still run 20 miles, thank you.

[The question was "Can you walk 20 miles in a day," which probably had more to do with the requirements of life in 1920. - Dave]

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.